File No. 881.00/633

The French Ambassador to the Secretary of State

Dear Mr. Secretary: I am instructed by my Government to express to you its sincere appreciation of the decision of the Government of the United States to recognize our Protectorate in Morocco. The terms in which you were so good as to notify it to us enhanced the value of this token of good will, and my Government is confident that the traditional and sincere friendship between our two countries alluded to in your letter of the 15th will be still increased by this recognition.

On one passage of your letter, I am asked to draw your attention, the wording of which being not in exact conformity with facts. It is stated there that the Government of the United States “recognizes the establishment of the French Protectorate over the French Zone of the Sheriffian Empire”.

In reality the Protectorate established by France in Morocco, with the assent of its ruler, covers the whole of that country, as evidenced by the terms of the Treaty of March, 1912, a copy of which I had the honor of transmitting to you on January 3, 1913. The Spanish rights are mentioned in it (Art. 1) as being to be defined by an agreement between the Governments, not of Morocco, but of France and of Spain. Every Power, Spain included, has recognized that our Protectorate was coextensive with the total area of Morocco.

My Government would be much obliged to you if you would kindly cause this involuntary error to be amended and the text of your letter of recognition to be so worded as to refer to the French Protectorate, as concerning Morocco itself, and not simply to the French Zone thereof.

Believe me [etc.]

Jusserand